UGH. There is nothing worse in this world than a cat with diarrhea. Well, there probably is, truth be told, but….when you have a long-haired cat with the runs that literally clears a room after he uses the litter box, you begin to wonder!

I did a lot of research into what caused diarrhea, what the cures were, what I could do about it without dragging poor Tuffy to the Vet. He’s not really a people cat and I didn’t want to stress him anymore than he already was, but……sometimes you just need to bite the bullet.

My own thoughts drifted from kidney failure (dealing with that for a different cat), fatty liver disease, cancer, IBD, parasites and food allergies. I started keeping a journal of everything he ate, what meds I was giving him (homepaths) and his litter box habits. I stopped giving him chicken and started buying very expensive cat food. He never gained weight, but didn’t lose much more than his 9 pounds. At 9 pounds, he was too thin. When he stopped eating a whole can of food and finishing off the other 3 cats’ bowls, I knew something was wrong. The next morning, he ate very little, but threw that up. Panic mode set in and I called the Vet.

Don’t get me wrong – I think everyone needs a good Veterinarian. I just prefer not subjecting my animals to anymore poking and prodding than necessary. Dr. Howarth at Spencer Springs Animal Hospital in Henderson, NV was wonderful! He checked Tuffy all over, took blood, gave him fluids and gave me a bottle of antibiotics to give Tuff for 10 days. Then we had to take a stool sample back the next day.

The blood tests came back negative, AND the stool sample came back negative. Thank goodness! Dr. Howarth told me that chicken was the #1 food allergen for cats. So, I decided to do a little research on what exactly I was feeding the kids.

Blue Buffalo Wilderness with Red Meat…..has chicken in it. Since when is chicken a red meat???? Don’t get me wrong….I love Blue Buffalo food for my cats….just not with chicken. Buy Blue Buffalo Basics if you want to stick with the brand. It’s chicken-free!

The more I looked, the more I found chicken. Chicken, chicken everywhere! ARRRRRGH! It’s in Temptations treats (Tuffy’s favorite!), it’s in cheap cat food AND expensive cat food. I was getting really depressed at PetsMart yesterday, until I started looking at Fancy Feast. I’ve fed them Fancy Feast for years, but usually mixed it up between the Poultry and the Seafood. And now that the Poultry was out, I needed to do something to keep my cats from all out mutiny. And purchasing ridiculously expensive cat food for 4 cats is out of the question. I don’t make enough money for that!

The 5 Fancy Feast cans below have no chicken in them. Against the Grain and Avoderm Crab & Shrimp also have no chicken. The Simply Nourish Tuna and Salmon both have chicken liver. I’m going to give it a try anyway. I gave the Blue Buffalo dry food away and purchased Simply Nourish Salmon. I’ll probably go back to Blue Buffalo Basics next month.

They say it takes 6-12 weeks for the allergens to leave the body. I’m hoping it takes less time. My Scentsy burners are hoping it takes less time and my husband is hoping it takes less time as well!